Will Enzo Bianchi Be Raised to Cardinal by Pope Francis?

Pope Francis and the "Monk"

(Rome)  The rumors in Rome  that Enzo Bianchi is to be elevated to cardinal are accumulating. Bianchi is not a priest but a layman, which would be not be news in the church itself. But Bianchi is also the founder and leader of a bizarre association (but why he is called "Prior" and "Monk"),  who is not actually Catholic.  Because of his unorthodox teaching Msgr. Antonio Livi, the former dean of the Faculty of Arts of the Lateran University described him as a "false prophet".

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A date for the next extraordinary consistory in which Pope Francis creates new cardinals, is not fixed yet.  However, names are being eagerly passed around in Rome, among which are found mainly those belonging to the inner court of the Pope, and who represent his course   with particular zeal.  Traditionally,  Italian names are particularly mentioned in Rome. Besides Enzo Bianchi,,   three names are frequently quoted:: Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, Bishop of Albano Laziale, Secretary of the C9-Cardinal Council and the editorial board of the final report of the Synod on the Family, Curial Bishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Community of Sant'Egidio, President of the Pontifical Council Family, and Mons. Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti.

Enzo Bianchi and the abolition of the papacy

For Enzo Bianchi, born in 1943, Fatima is a "fraud,"  the Church should be "silent" on homosexuality, the family is "a form that society gives it" and therefore is arbitrarily changeable and Mary is "not a suitable role model for women in the Church". That Bianchi, who wants to overcome the papacy in favor of ecumenism, is a guest welcome in the Vatican, will be seen as an irony of history. Enzo Bianchi, from whom Pope Benedict XVI kept away from Rome, finds himself in harmony with Pope Francis.  Francis also shows his appreciation by Bianchi's appointment in July 2014 as Consultor of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.

Bishop Semeraro and the "morality of the person"

Bishop Marcello Semeraro, born in 1947, was personally appointed by Pope Francis to the   Synod on the Family. Since thirteen cardinals at the suggestion of Cardinal George Pell, including the prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, against the procedure for the Synod of Bishops in a letter, wherein they hurled all of their dissatisfaction against the papal stalwart, Semeraro. The thirteen cardinals voiced the suspicion that there was the intention "prefabricate results on   important controversial issues." At the same time they criticized the prepared working paper, after which the Synod was held, as "unacceptable". Semeraro clattered against it: "I feel a feeling of disgust about the publication of the letter." He who knows the language and customs of the Church, could  read out Semeraro's outbreak of displeasure. First, the bishop of Albano Laziale knew himself to be covered by the pope. Secondly, the  cardinal's letter annoyingly thwarted the plans of the Synod Director.

Semeraro had just published a small treatise on the family Synod, in which he argued for a possible admission of divorced and remarried to Communion

Cardinal Bergoglio allowed himself to be blessed in 2006 by Protestant preachers and P. Cantalamessa at Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires

and considered this to be a "return" to a "practice" before the "restorative" phase of John Paul II. and Benedict XVI. The Synod had to whit, under the "decisive" leadership of Pope Francis,  transformed  the Church "from the morality of the law to the morality of the person,"  which raises the personal conscience to the highest authority.

As early as October 2014 Semeraro  had, in a pastoral letter to the faithful of his Diocese who received the sacraments at the SSPX from priests (SSPX),  threatened excommunication.

Vincenzo Paglia and the homophilic Kasperians

Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, born in 1945, was the first bishop from the Community of Sant'Egidio. They developed the idea for the controversial inter-religious meeting for peace in Assisi.  Benedict XVI. had,  shortly before his unexpected resignation, appointed him as Chairman of the Pontifical Family Council.  He is considered as a candidate for the Cardinal purple. Since then, the Curial Bishop is less noticed for a defense of marriage and family, rather than as a representative for an "opening" towards homosexuality and for the divorced and remarried. Right at his first press conference as "Family Minister" of the Vatican, he caused a stir with homophilic tones. An unexplained shortfall of 20 million euros, which he had left in 2012 in the coffers of his diocese of Terni, earned him an investigation by the public prosecutor, but it is now archived. In May 2015 Paglia took part in the secret meeting at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where the Kasperians prepared for the Synod of Bishops in the autumn.

Bruno Forte and the "Legend" the empty grave

Msgr. Bruno Forte, born in 1949, Archbishop of Chieti, a few months was appointed archbishop by Pope John Paul II. before his death, while his career under Benedict XVI. was at a substantial standstill.   Forte headed the working group of the International Theological Commission, which prepared the document for the "Day of Pardon" in the Holy Year 2000, for the Pope John Paul II. A public confession was given and he begged God for forgiveness for the mistakes of the past 2000 years that people "had committed crimes in the Church in the name of faith and morals."  In 2009 he set out on the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum Pope Benedict XVI.    provided comical and stubborn resistance to the invitation of the German pope, to render the words of consecration "pro multis" in the local languages ​​as "many" instead of "for all."  Incitement of the Italian bishops, like the German. has failed to date. In 2011 Forte suggested that the empty grave of the risen Christ was just a legend.
With the election of Pope Francis  Forte also found a new  approval in Rome. The new pope appointed him special secretary of the Synod on the Family. As such Forte formulated the controversial interim report of the Synod 2014's passages on homosexuality and the divorced and remarried, which have been rejected by the Synod.

There is also currently whispering that there is a Cardinal beret for Father Raniero Cantalamessa, the Papal household preacher. During Advent, the Capuchin designated Mary as an obstacle to unity with the Protestants in a sermon for the Roman Curia. The Pontifical House preacher spoke indeed of "particular forms" of Marian devotion, however, the statement was a devaluation and reduction of Marian devotion as a concession to the Protestants who reject Mary as a bulwark of faith.The Capuchin, however, would no longer belong to the Papal electors. The Capuchin will complete his 82nd year next July.

Some of those named were already contenders for the purple in 2014 and 2015     without having been raised to the cardinal state. Until  an official confirmation these are just rumors. Since even Enzo Bianchi is inn the candidate circle, is an indication of Pope Francis is credited for everything on the one on the joy, the other for suffering.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmaill.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

From the "Autonomous Church" to the "Amazon Priest"? Pope Francis and the Married Clergy

Bishop Ruiz With Zapatista Guerrillas in 1996 

(Rome) From the 12th to the 20th of February, Pope Francis will visit Mexico. While numerous media have identified the focus of his pastoral visit as the migration issue, the Vatican expert Sandro Magister has referred to the visit to the southern Mexican diocese of San Cristobal de Las Casas. There, from 1959-2000 the reigning diocesan Bishop Samuel Ruiz tried stealthily doing away with priestly celibacy. Instead of celibate priests,  he only consecrated married deacons. It's a form of the diaconate that was allowed by the Second Vatican Council to address the shortage of priests, but has also been criticized as a first step to lift the priest celibacy. At the end of Ruiz Garcia's tenure, the priesthood of his diocese had overaged and with each priest there were four married deacons.

In addition to his practice, the bishop complained of  a pressing shortage of priests and prepared the next step for the ordination of married deacons to the priesthood. Bishop Ruiz Garcia was also the showpiece of a church that had good contacts wth the extreme left, giving him international attention in certain circles.  With the retirement of Ruiz Garcia the Vatican pulled emergency brake and  forbade the consecration of other viri probati, the blessing of their women and the use of the term "indigenous deacons".

Bishop Ruiz Garcia's creeping abolition of priestly celibacy

Since the Pope will visit San Cristobal de Las Casas among the many Mexican dioceses,   Magister sees this as one of several indications that Pope Francis could allow the end of priestly celibacy by the ordination of married deacons (see  Pope Francis will invoke the subject of the abolition of celibacy and women priests for the next Synod? ). As a first step, the rehabilitation of priests who have abandoned their priesthood for a woman and were laisized would be conceivable. They are organized in different groups and they try, with the sympathizing parts of the clergy and the bishops, to put pressure on the Church. Media support is you safely. The abolition of celibacy and the sacramental priesthood was one of the main program points of the Protestant schism.

As Bishop Ruiz Garcia Liked to See Himself

Msgr. Felipe Arizmendi, the now reigning Bishop of San Cristóbal de las Casas,  spoke to Magister's suggestion. He has reported how - that he has improved the situation in the diocese - since the retirement of Bishop Ruiz Garcia. Meanwhile, there are local priests which Ruiz Garcia had claimed to be impossible (see The Other Chiapas of the Celibate Indigenous Clergy ).

Magister's thesis is now receiving new sustenance  through the report of Rome correspondent Andres Beltramo from Notimex. Betramo is among other things an associate of Vatican Insider, which is the news site operated by Andrea Tornielli, the House news portal and correspondent of Pope Francis. On Epiphany  Beltramo reported that Pope Francis is to visit the grave of the controversial Bishop Ruiz Garcia and he therefore wants to express his special appreciation. The visit of Bishop's graves is a rarity which will donate a signal effect for Pope's visit.

"Amazon Workshop" is working on a model of the married "Amazon priest"

On February 15, the Pope will visit the Cathedral of San Cristobal de las Casas, to pray at the grave of the   bishop, deceased in 2011, who is criticized within the church because of his anti-celibacy course and outside, because of his closeness to the socialist guerrilla organization Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacio n (EZLN ). Pope John Paul II had ​​initiated an investigation against Bishop Ruiz Garcia  because he was suspected of wanting to build an "autonomous Church" separate from Rome. "The planned visit to the grave of Ruiz Garcia can be interpreted as supporting the idea of a married clergy," said Secretum Meum Mihi.

The Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes and the Austrian Mission Bishop Erwin Kräutler are pushing with their "Amazon workshop".  Kräutler has in common with Ruiz Garcia not only good relations with the political left, but also calls for a "solution" for the shortage of priests, the abolition of priestly celibacy.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Red Mexicana / Papalrevolucion (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Polish Minister: New Government Believes in God and Fatherland

Royal Banner of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Poland's new foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski has rejected criticism of the European Commission of the government's ruling PiS party ("Law and Justice"). The previous government followed a certain "left policy concept."

Berlin (kath.net/KNA) Poland's new foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski has rejected criticism of the European Commission to the government of the ruling PiS party ("Law and Justice"). "We just want to heal our country of some diseases, so that it can recover again," the minister said of the controversial approach of his government against the state media in an interview with the "Bild" (Monday).

The previous government pursued a certain "left policy concept" said Waszczykowski. "When the world must automatically move only in the direction of a Marxist model - to a new mix of cultures and races, a world of cyclists and vegetarians who only focus on renewable energies and fight against any form of religion. This has nothing to do with traditional Polish values.

"The PiS party promotes a contrast that moves the majority of Poles: traditions, awareness of history, love of Fatherland, faith in God, in a normal family life between husband and wife. And these days we even prefer 'Merry Christmas', and not 'Happy Holidays' - because we still celebrate the birth of Jesus," said the Minister. This was possibly "a shock to our opponents 'who believed in progress:' whose 25 years of left and liberal indoctrination could not eliminate these traditional values. And that we have have even won the elections."

Kath.net... Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMDG

Masonic Press Attacks Franciscans of the Immaculate

Edit: a reader sent this. The persecution of the Franciscans of the Immaculate continues with the usual kinds of attacks that have been going on as long as the press has been around. The kinds of penitential practices being criticized here are common to authentic religious life and the religious who suffer them are members of these religious communities of their own free will.

Why do non-catholic entities always set themselves up as judges of Catholics? What's worse is that evil and worldly hierarchy are inclined to listen to them.

[Daily Mail] In an interview with an Italian newspaper where she makes the damaging allegations, the former nun shows off a post card with her vows, signed by the head of the order. She claims the vows were written using in her own blood, on the day of her initiation in 1996, when she was 17 years old.

'Father Manelli [head of the order] was satisfied that we did this practice because it made our love for God more authentic, this eternal vow with God…made with blood,' she told Correriere Della Sera. 'All the practices related to expired food are true – expired yogurt or corned beef for example. We were told that if we ate that food with obedience nothing would have happened… but that’s not true because I had many stomach aches and abdomen pains.'

'All the practices related to expired food are true – expired yogurt or corned beef for example. We were told that if we ate that food with obedience nothing would have happened… but that’s not true because I had many stomach aches and abdomen pains.'

Daily Mail... AMDG

"The Confessor is Not a Notary" -- Misunderstandings about the Holy Year of Mercy

(Rome) A remarried divorcee went to confession before Christmas, but the confessor refused him absolution. The incident occurred in the southern Italian city of Bari in the cathedral which is dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra. The daily La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno printed a letter on 30 December   from the man who described his "disappointment" and demanded the "mercy from Pope Francis" that had been denied him in the "Holy Year of Mercy". Because as the divorced and remarried insisted, "absolution is given to all who confess." A misunderstanding?

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Such a requirement, which presupposes an automatism, was an "absurd claim" says the well-known theologian and liturgist, Msgr. Nicola Bux. "The priest is not a notary." On January 3, the same newspaper published an interview with Msgr. Bux,  who is a priest of the Archdiocese of Bari. The Consultor of Roman dicasteries is the author of numerous internationally acclaimed books. His most recent monograph is entitled: "How to go to the Holy Mass, without losing faith," which has been translated into five languages.

Nicola Bux: "The priest is at the same time judge and psychiatrist.  To "absolve", to "free" and means in concrete terms,  to break the penitent  from his binding to sin. The priest, and not the believer, is to evaluate whether the conditions are met to grant the absolution or not.

Repentance is not enough?

Nicola Bux: The true repentance requires a commitment of the believer to release the connection. In the Gospel Jesus Christ says: go and sin no more. He does not say: Go and continue what suits you.

The priest saw the conditions of which you speak were not met?

Nicola Bux: Obviously. No absolution can be expected when there is no firm intention not to sin again.

And  the Holy Year of Mercy is called into question.

Nicola Bux: These rules recently led to quite a misunderstanding. The rules have not changed, and the priests have to stick to the traditional teaching, all, as well as all judges must abide by the law in the same way without exception. Why do we expect that this concept of course applies to the court, but to be knocked down in the Church?

San Nicola, the Cathedral of Bari

It is clear is which side Don Bux is on.

Nicola Bux: I am of course on the side of Jesus Christ. No one on this earth has the authority to change the rules of his Church. Therefore, the Synod has produced a final document that absolutely nothing changes in terms of the Eucharist and the divorced and remarried.

But many think that Pope Francis intends to change course.

Nicola Bux: Another big misunderstanding. Cardinal Müller, the prefect of the CDF, and thus the guardian of the Catholic faith has said it very clearly: "The doctrine of the Church is not a man-made theory. The Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops is not above the Word of God."

According to the letter from our reader, the priest considers him   an even bigger sinner because he went to Communion, although he is divorced and remarried.

Nicola Bux: And for that we should place the guilt to the priest? It is Jesus Christ who proclaimed the indissolubility of marriage in the Gospel. And St. Paul warns against  receiving the sacrament unworthily. How can one demand access to the Eucharist if he  has left the community and bond with  and formed a bond with another woman? That is a contradiction in terms. And even more contradictions become visible in the letter. 

What do you mean by that?

Nicola Bux: Above all, the starting point. The reader referred to himself on the one hand as a "devout Catholic," but at the same time as a divorced and remarried, who betrays the indissolubility of the marriage bond.  Then he speaks literally of a "whim" that had driven him after 12 years, once again in the confessional.  Catholics are obliged to report to confession at least once a year. So we have to do it with a typical example of a "homegrown Christianity."   If I define what is Catholic, and if so, Church and faith would suit my needs. A phenomenon against which Benedict XVI. had warned emphatically.

One last question: Is not the Holy Door of the Cathedral  a separate, special penitential?

Nicola Bux: This also needs clarity: Sin pulls like a crime, here  a better understanding helps to make a comparison with the criminal law, guilt and punishment. Confession brings the repentant sinner absolution from guilt, but not of the punishment that is to be served in the afterlife on a supernatural level. That is the moment when the Holy Year comes into play, which makes it possible as a special way  to wipe out the penalties, comparable to a complete or partial remission. The gates of mercy in the Church are and will always be open. But on the usual terms. And the priests know that they do not give in and not allow themselves to be intimidated by the prevailing opinions.

Introduction / translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mil / Arcidiocesi di Bari (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

LInk to Katholisches...

AMDG

The "Miracle of the Red Thread" -- The Talmud Confirms the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross

The Talmud, next to the Tanach, is considered the normative text in both versions, the Babylonian and Jerusalem, to justify the execution of Jesus,  as an entire counter-narrative, an anti-Gospel and contains a variety vile statements against Christ and Christians. Nevertheless, it also unintentionally confirmed the sacrifice of the Cross of Jesus.

How Many Light Bulbs?

Q. How many Anglo-Catholics does it take to change a light bulb?

A. One to change the light bulb, and two to hold the cope.

Q. How many Latin Massers does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Change?!?!? I don’t read about light bulbs in the Council of Trent!

Q. How many Aristotelians does it take to change a light bulb?

A. As many as the celestial movers, a point the Philosopher unfortunately left unresolved.

Q. How many Calvinists does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Only God knows and as many as God wills.

Q. How many Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?

A. One to change the light bulb, five to set up a committee to discuss a commemorative plaque, and at least two to bring a dish to pass.

Q. How many Prayer-Book Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?

A. One to change the light bulb and at least two to complain about how much better the last one was.

Q. How many Dominicans does it take to change a light bulb?

A. I answer that the requisite number of Dominicans can be demonstrated in five ways, all of which may be incomprehensible.

Q. How many Eastern Orthodox does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Just like everything else it’s a great mystery, but their beards might have something to do with it.

Q. How many Jehovah Witnesses does it take to change a light bulb?
A. 144,000. All 144,000

(The author invites his readers to add to this list in the comment section.)

The heretic pope

Edit: I'll bet there are more than two. This passage really grabbed my attention:

Monothelitism, prevailed for over forty years in the Byzantine Empire.  At that time the most vigorous defender of the faith was the monk, Maximus, known as the Confessor, who took part in a Synod convoked at the Lateran (649) by Pope Martin (649-655), to condemn Monothelitism. Both the Pope and Maximus were forced into exile. Maximus’s tongue and right hand were cut off as he refused to subscribe to the Monothelite doctrines.  Sophronius, Maximus and Martin are today venerated by the Church as saints for their indomitable resistance to the Monothelite heresy. 

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

December 30, 2015

The case of Pope Honorius is one of the most controversial in the history of the Church. As the Church historian, Emile Amann, rightly notes in the large entry he dedicates to the Question d’Onorius in Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique (vol. VII, coll. 96-132), the problem needs to be treated in an unbiased manner and with the serene impartiality which history owes to past events (col.96).

At the center of the pontificate of Pope Honorius who reigned from 625-638, was the question of Monothelitism, the last of the great Christological heresies.  In order to please the Byzantine Emperor, Heraclius, desirous of guaranteeing religious peace inside his kingdom, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius, sought to find a compromise between Catholic orthodoxy, according to which in Jesus Christ there are two natures in one person, and the Monophysite heresy, which attributed to Christ one person only and one nature only. The result of the compromise was a new heresy, Monothelitism, according to which, the double nature of Christ was moved in His action of one operation only and one will only. This is semi-Monophysitism, but truth is integral or it is not, and a moderate heresy, is always heresy. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, was among those who intervened with the greatest vigor in denouncing the new doctrine which rendered the humanity of Christ futile and led to Monophysitism , condemned by the Council of Chalcedon (451).  

Sergius wrote to Pope Honorius to ask “in future that no-one be permitted to affirm the two operations in Christ Our God” and to receive his support against Sophronius.  Honorius unfortunately assented to the request. In a letter to Sergius he affirmed  that “the will of Our Lord Jesus Christ was one only (unam voluntatem fatemur), for “the fact that our human nature was assumed by the Divinity” and he invited Sophronius to be silent.  The correspondence between Sergius and Honorius is conserved in the acts of VI Ecumenical Council (Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima Collectio, vol. XI, cols. 529-554) and was republished in Latin, Greek and French by Arthur Loth   La cause d’Honorius. Documents originaux avec traduction, notes et conclusion, Victor Palmé, Paris 1870 and in Greek and German by Georg Kreuzer, Die Honoriusfrage im Mittelalter und in der Neuzeit, Anton Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1975).

Read on at Rorate...

AMDG

In 2015 Significantly Fewer People Wanted to See the Pope

The total number of participants at papal events declined over the previous year from 5.9 to 3.2 million.

Vatican City (kath.net/ KAP) In his third year in office, Pope Francis has apparently lost much of his appeal to visitors: 2015 halved the total number of participants at papal events at the Vatican over the previous year from 5.9 to 3.2 million people. This emerges from participant statistics for 2015, published the Vatican on Wednesday. In his first year in office in 2013, approximately 6.6 million participants were registered at his election in March to December.

According to the statistics of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household in 2015 a total of nearly 1.6 million people came to the Angelus prayer with the Pope in St. Peter's Square, 700,000 attended the General Audiences and another 500,000 who attend Mass with the Pope. Francis received 400,000 people in special audiences in the Vatican. The foreign trips of the Pope and his visits to the diocese of Rome are not included in the statistics.

Francis approaches thus   the number of participants for events in papal pontificate of Benedict XVI.  in his last year in office in 2012, with 2.35 million people coming to the audiences, Angelus prayers and Masses. For a general audience the Pope  averaged in 2015  almost 17,000 people. The highest number of participants were reported at a total of 120,000 people General Audiences in October, when the Synod of Bishops in Rome met.

The statistics are based on estimates, the Vatican has said. For access to the St. Peter's Square or in the Paul VI Audience Hall entrance cards are required for general audiences, which are issued free of charge. The people who follow the General Audiences from the areas outside St. Peter's Square are not statistically recorded. Participation in the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square is not regulated.

Kath.net...
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Father Schmidberger Foresees Canonical Recognition of the SSPX

In the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has agreed to extend an indult to the Priests of the Society of St. Pius X, to hear confessions. Former Superior, Father Franz Schmidberger forsees canonical recognition of the Society as well as greater cooperation.  

In a recent interview,  former superior of the Fraternity talks to La Stampa saying, "I trust that in the near future we can find solutions to recover full communion."

According Schmidberger Pope Francis' gesture will not be complete at the end of the Jubilee. "Indeed" - says Schmidberger - "it is hard to imagine that this is limited to the Holy Year, nor do I think this is the limit of the Pope's idea. Perhaps at first other similar gestures are to follow. No doubt - it seems  - the Pope sees in our Fraternity a force that can be of help to, as many have claimed, the new evangelization. Furthermore, our work corresponds in principle to his invitation to the spirit of poverty. In fact we do not receive state subsidies or the Church-tax, but we live only the generosity and sacrifice of the faithful. "

"If the Pope is really thinking of a canonical structure, it will open many doors even wider for our priests than today." "Especially" - concluded the former collaborator of Lefebvre - "we could work together, according to our vocation, to the formation of a new generation of priests filled with a spirit of faith and apostolic zeal."

Source: La Stampa,

http://www.lastampa.it/2015/12/30/vaticaninsider/ita/nel-mondo/giubileo-i-lefebvriani-sulle-confessioni-il-papa-ha-spiazzato-tutti-JsdSyGfAP7APJTyC8L6RaO/pagina.html

AMDG

Politicians and Bishops in the Climate Hype -- Solar Cells Against Global Warming Instead of Prayers for Rain

(Rome) "Smog in Italy", "Poor air in Italy", "air pollution in major Italian cities", "crisis meeting because of smog." The message is also reported thousands of kilometers away from Italy in the world news. It suits well the climate hype that would be hammered into an "infidel" nation. The real emergency  is not the climate and the smog, but the politicians and bishops.

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A commentary by Riccardo Cascioli *

Nothing is more appropriate than the alleged smog emergency to make the bungling politicians and the contradictory nature of the bishops visible.

The politicians

Let's start with the former. What really stands out about the smog in our cities and because of these geographical and meteorological conditions of the air, for example, is currently in the Po Valley, which is something we have previously stated. In summary it can be said that the high Smog rating these days can not wipe out the fact that air pollution has declined steadily for several decades. Although the fine dust values ​​are at the moment over the limits, they are far below the values ​​that were a permanent condition 30 years ago. The current situation is due to exceptional weather conditions and, therefore, represents the exception to the rule. For two months it has not rained and the wind is calm. Therefore, the air is above the cities. That may be neither pleasant nor healthy, but is only a temporary condition that should not be overstated and should certainly not be used as an excuse for extraordinary measures. They will only cost the taxpayers a lot of money without bringing appreciable benefits.

The lies about the air pollution

But what do we see? Instead of mayors, governors and members of the government, explaining to the people based on concrete figures   what is going on, fears are enervated and scaremongering. There are full-bodied declarations, party political polemics and a cheap slugfest with views to the next elections. Then death statistics from air pollution pile into the house and the biggest bungler of all, the five-star comedian [Movimento Cinque Stelle, left-wing populist, Eurosceptic party] writes about the increase in deaths from pollution. In 2015 more than 70,000 people, more than last year, died in Italy. The lie is that it was linked to the air pollution, has been refuted by demographers Giancarlo Blangiardo which has unfortunately not put a stop to them.

The temporary air pollution in the major Italian cities could be compared with that of the early 50s.There were really Smog deaths. If things are really today, as currently claimed by climate hysterics, then perhaps anyone of them should perhaps explain why precisely Milan  has by far  the longest life expectancy in Italy.

Is air pollution good for health? Increased life expectancy in the cities clearly

Maybe we look at the tables of the National Statistical Office: in Italy in 2014, the average life expectancy for men was at 80.3 years, for women 84.9 years. In Milan it is as high as 81.4 years for men and 86.1 years for women. If we draw a historical perspective now, we see that the life expectancy in the past 20 years has risen in Milan for men by as much as seven years and for women by five years. In 1994, it was 74.2 years (men) and 81.3 years (women). Similar is the situation in Turin. For this industrial city the  surveys go back only since 2002. Back then, life expectancy was 77.1 years (men) and 83.1 years (women). Today it is 80.7 years for men and 85.2 years for women. Even Rome has the same development. The life expectancy has risen from 1994 until 2014 for men from 74.4 to 80.8 years and for women of 80.3 to 84.7 years.

Would that  we  thought like   the eco-ideologues, we would have to draw from these figures the conclusion that air pollution is good for the health. In reality, as the mere common sense suggests, things are naturally different in every way. The explanation for the rising life expectancy must be sought elsewhere. But for ecologists and politicians these simple panic messages seem to be a lucrative business when identifying and explaining complex processes that a general improvement in living conditions enabled (economic development, better food supply, better protection against heat and especially cold, access to better medical care etc). This includes new, environmentally friendly technologies, which in turn have improved the air values ​​and therefore our health.

This cycle must be understood that the continuing economic crisis could reverse this trend. The still unexplained increase in deaths in 2015 could be an indication. If this should be, then we would have to answer the call of climate hysterics: "Because of smog ..."

The Church representatives

But we come now to the Church's representatives. Their current silence is suggestive, after an almost ecstatic intoxication at the world climate conference in Paris, where it seemed that the bishops wanted to outdo each other with dramatic statements and appeals. Where are the Monsignori who marched suddenly against climate change, held sermons about the alleged human-inflicted global warming and called on priests to give such sermons? Where are the prelates who spoke of the "last straw" in order to save the world? In those days there was not to be heard a discussion of  Smogalarm, which really has  a lot to do with the climate.  A decent rain or   a strong wind  would suffice and the matter would be downright washed and blown away.

One can also see the positive thing. By their silence they have at least spared us some of those unnecessary CO2 emissions. Perhaps we may even hope that one with some sense is  yet to come and will have put away the ideological phrases in favor of reality.

How would it be, to ask the Lord for rain?

Some rain or wind would be good not only for the residents of big cities, but also for farmers suffering from the drought. But none of the major prelates came to mind, where every simple country priest came immediately to mind earlier: to ask the Lord for rain. The Church even has ts own Masses providing  for such purposes. But who remembers that? These are irrational things for shamans and heathens, will be what many will think of them. It's inconceivable that an enlightened, post-conciliar bishop can believe in such things. For this purpose, he would have to even be aware that God is really the Almighty, as the true Lord of heaven and earth, the true creator of the universe, the earth and of man, a true master of nature, who has the power, as Jesus showed  his disciples several times,  to command the forces of nature.

But even in the Church there is the hybris that everything depends on the people and of what man does. "Only the man can still change," is what it surely must mean. For if a man does nothing, nothing happens. So also many prelates give  money instead for solar panels on the roof of the parish and speaks of a "prophetic" gesture," because that indeed is the the way that alleged  manmade   global warming is to be stopped.  Unfortunately it does not occur to begin a novena to St. Joseph or to celebrate Masses to solicit rain and wind.

* Riccardo Cascioli, chief editor of the Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Meteostat (Screenshot)

Trans:Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Pan-Orthodox Council is Endangered? Conflict in Moscow and with Constantinople

Since the Synaxis of 2014, an Agreed Meeting of a Holy and General
Council of Orthodoxy for 2016 is Endangered 

(Moscow) The Roman Curia has officially been a permanent construction site since March 2013. Currently, it's primarily the communication area that's being reorganized. While Rome is being restructured, there was a veritable earthquake in the communication sector of the Moscow Patriarchate.

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In Rome the Pontifical Council for Social Communications headed by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli Curia is pending a change in leadership. Msgr. Celli will be 75 in a few months. His former deputy, the Irish Curial Bishop Paul Tighe has already been appoinnted by Pope Francis in mid-December to the Assistant Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture  under the direction of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. The American journalist Greg Burke is the new Vice-Vatican spokesman and deputy of Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

In Moscow, at the same time, the two most famous heads of communication  were shown the door.  On December 24, approximately two weeks before  Orthodox Christmas, the Moscow Patriarchate issued the press release no. 98. At the end of a meeting of the Holy Synod, the merger of two previously separate departments of the Synod was announced. The Department for Relations between Church and Society and the Information Department were merged.

The newly created institution is called Department of the Church, Society and the Media. It is led by layman, Vladimir Legoyda who already previously headed the information department and is chief editor of the Orthodox journal "Thomas."

However, Archpriest Vsevolod Tsaplin was shown the door. Since 2009 he was head of the Department for Relations between Church and Society. In this capacity, the Archimandrite was regarded as the main spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Critics of too much dependence of the Church on state power

A few days before him, Sergei Tschapnin, the chief editor of the official press organ of the Moscow Patriarch had already been dismissed. The reason for the dismissal was that  the American website in First Things published an article by him in November, "A Church of Empire". The title could be translated as "state church". Tschapnin expressed himself  very critically of the close association of the Russian Church to the state power.

In an interview with the Catholic News Service Asianews Tschapnin repeated that the main bone of contention justifying Russian military intervention in Syria and Ukraine is that it is a "holy war" for God..

The Orthodox churches are known for the fact that internal conflicts are carried out with rigor. In the current power struggle are Tsaplin and Tschapnin against Patriarch Kirill I and the "foreign minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Tsaplin complained in his criticism, of authoritarian repression of synodality, which is so characteristic of the Orthodox Church, by the patriarch and the "foreign minister".

 

The Dismissed Santander Archimandrate Tsaplin,
one of the most famous voices of Russian Orthodoxy

Against criticism: cooperation with western stakeholders

Tschapnin repeated his criticism at the Moscow Carnegie Center. Therein his critics see the evidence that the two dismissed workers are collaborating in the new East-West conflict between Moscow and Washington with western stakeholders. The Patriarchate did not justify the dismissal order, but in the reading of subordinate bodies, the dismissal is presented as "self-protection" by the Russian Orthodox Church against a kind of fifth column. Established in 1994, the Carnegie Center in Moscow is an offshoot of the US foreign policy think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Russian government accuses comparable Western institutions of interference in internal Russian affairs.

Points of contention between Moscow and Constantinople endanger convening a Pan Orthodox Council

At the same meeting of the Holy Synod on 24 December,  Metropolitan Hilarion reported that it had come to a time to break the Pan-Orthodox meeting in mid-December in Athens. In the Greek capital, representatives of all recognized Orthodox churches gathered for the preparation of a Pan-Orthodox council. In a dispute over the rules according to which the  Council should take place.  Farthest apart are the positions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow. Constantinople claims primacy, while the Moscow does not recognize in this form. [Emphasis ours]

The patriarchs and heads of the Orthodox churches had agreed to in March 2014 after many years, to convene a Holy and Great Council of the whole Orthodoxy in Constantinople  in 2016.  The Pan-Orthodox Council is to be held in the Cathedral of St. Irene in Istanbul. The official reason for convening is the situation of Christians in the Middle East and the Ukraine issue. It is also about the recognition of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Equality of all Orthodox Churches has blocked the convocation off a Council for 50 years 

The convening of a Pan-Orthodox Council has been attempted  already for half a century, but failed repeatedly owing to inter-Orthodox  conflicts. In the absence of a generally recognized authority with ​​the outbreak of new conflicts always brought all previous attempts to naught. Central to this is the dispute over the question of what powers the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is entitled to as Primus inter pares. Since all Orthodox Churches are equal and decisions can be adopted unanimously, they block each other from a common approach.

Without an agreement in the current procedural issue,  there will be no Pan-Orthodox Council. Observers already expect   a postponement of the date by a few years, as has been the case for more than half a century.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG